Im very happy that iTunes Uk have finally released TV shows for download...
I have started ripping my TV show dvd's using a program called handbrake.. I optimise these files to fit the ipod.. I am definitelty getting an AppleTV and i will definitely get an iPhone. i have an Ipod 80gig (not a classic) just a black one... i also have a macbook pro..

SHOULD THE STUFF I RIP FOR IPOD VIDEO FIT ALL THESE DEVICES.. I DONT WANT TO RIP ESPECIALLY FOR EACH DEVICE AND HAVE DUPLICATES.. I WANT IT TO FIT ALL..

no, iPod has small screen and low res, if you want same video to play decent on tv, you need to set the bitrate to at least 700kbps, res at about 800x600. these setting are little bit high for iPod, but works on TV/computer better.

Honestly, I'd just wait until the touch ships and the iPhone gets updated.

It looks like there will be new video resolutions, so Handbrake will likely get updated presets for them. Just wait until someone has tried it out and found the best common format, nobody really knows until it's out and has been tested.

Honestly, I'd just wait until the touch ships and the iPhone gets updated.

It looks like there will be new video resolutions, so Handbrake will likely get updated presets for them. Just wait until someone has tried it out and found the best common format, nobody really knows until it's out and has been tested.

i did quite a bit transcoding for my palm tx, same screen size and res as Touch, for them, 480x320@450kbps is good enough, but OP want to watch it on TV/MBP too.

how come Itunes store videos are supposed to fit an ipod, iphone, appletv,MBP? its h.264... the beauty of it is that its meant to scale it to fit any screen and look sexy... have i misunderstood what h.264 is?

if my handbrake rips for ipod are similar to these then am i not set to go? please help me to understand... im gonna be a huge ripper and downlaoder of legal content... i have too much series and movies to rip....

how come Itunes store videos are supposed to fit an ipod, iphone, appletv,MBP? its h.264... the beauty of it is that its meant to scale it to fit any screen and look sexy... have i misunderstood what h.264 is?

if my handbrake rips for ipod are similar to these then am i not set to go? please help me to understand... im gonna be a huge ripper and downlaoder of legal content... i have too much series and movies to rip....

The same codec does work for all these devices. They just have different max resolutions and data rates they can handle. So you want the highest settings that will work on all your devices. Until the touch is out or the iPhone updated, I don't think it's really known what those settings will be.

how come Itunes store videos are supposed to fit an ipod, iphone, appletv,MBP? its h.264... the beauty of it is that its meant to scale it to fit any screen and look sexy... have i misunderstood what h.264 is?

The iPod and iPhone will be the limiting factor. If you want your video to play on all your devices, then compress your video at the maximum bit rate supported by the iPod and iPhone (which have the same video support I think).

Here is the iPod Classic video specs: (I think it is the same as the old iPod video)
H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

If none of that makes sense to you, just use the latest version of Handbreak and use the preset options for the iPod.

Once you get an Apple TV, your existing content should look ok, but you will likely notice that the quality is not the same as a DVD. Try hooking your iPod to your tv to see what the video quality is like.

Here is the iPod Classic video specs: (I think it is the same as the old iPod video)
H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

I found this information provided by apple is profoundly misleading, for the screen size of iPod classic,Touch, iPhone, 1.5~2.5mbps is a unbelievable waste of space. 60%~80% waste.

I found this information provided by apple is profoundly misleading, for the screen size of iPod classic,Touch, iPhone, 1.5~2.5mbps is a unbelievable waste of space. 60%~80% waste.

How's that misleading? They state the supported formats, NOT the recommended formats. Sure, the extra resolution is wasted on a small screen, but is it really worth re-encoding stuff to save space, if you want to use it on say, an iPod and an Apple TV? Plus, they apparently support TV out, where the extra resolution would be worthwhile. All that said, they're specs - they're not at all misleading.

What you want to do is get them at DVD native resolutions, or just 640*576. At a nice bitrate. My ripped DVDs are at 800kbps for the good quality stuff and 500kbps for cartoon stuff. I've managed to fit the whole Futurama DVD collection into 5gb, looks great on iPod and my monitor (1680*1050).